Figure novelty



Nov. 1 1949 U. SCHNEIDER FIGURE NOVELTY Filed July 18, 1946 ZZIMJJ sc zzeidez Patented Nov. 1, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FIGURE NOVELTY Ulrich Schneider, St. Joseph, Mo.

Application July 18, 1946, Serial No. 584,500

5 Claims. (Cl. 46-162) This invention relates to figure novelties of the caricature type useful either as counter or window exhibits or as play toys for children.

Animportant obj ect-of my invention is to provide afigure novelty simulating an animal, composed of a core of yielding material, such as wadded paper or fabric, around which is wound a wire adapted to impart thereto the desired contour of the animal body, and a wishbone or a plurality of wishbones of a fowl associated with the body thus formed and serving as the legs of the animal. In the case of a four-legged animal, such as ahorse, separate wishbones will be provided at the front and rear ends of the body in a manner such -as to define the forelegs and hindlegs of the animal, respectively.

Another object of the invention is to provide .a figure novelty of the above character in which the wire which encircles and imparts the contour to the body is extended at one end to form the neck of the animal and at the other end to form the tail. In the preferred embodiment of my invention, a cork is supported upon the outer end of the wire forming the neck, and is suitably fashioned so as to resemble in appearance the head of the animal.

A further object of my invention is to provide a figure novelty of the above character which is stifily flexible so as to permit it to be bent into different poses, and to preserve such poses.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a figure novelty of the above character in which the wishbone forming the legs of the figure are severed and interconnected by wires inserted through the interior of the bones so as to provide bendable connections whereby the legs may be bent into a great number of different positions and lend to the figure the effect of lifelike action.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, reference being had to the annexed drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of a figure toy during its initial stage of manufacture;

Fig'i'ire 2 is a perspective view of the figure toy during a further stage of manufacture;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the figure toy as finally completed to represent a horse;

Figure 4 is a detail view showing an alternative mode of forming the legs of the animal so as to afford additional flexibility in posing the figure; and

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a figure toy representing horse having its legs constructed in the manner shown in Fig. 4.

chicken wishbone i In-the drawing is shown a figure toy, representing in caricature a horse, at each of its several stages of production. The figure, includes a representing the forelegs of the horse and .a similar wishbone 2 representing its hindlegs. The apices of the two wishbones are firmly embedded within the ends of a section of sausage-shaped wadding .3 of yielding material, such as sheets of tissue paper rolled together, which forms the body of the horse. The branches of the wishbones extend downwardly and provide support for the body, and the lower ends of the wishbones may be trimmed off, as indicated at 4, to better conform to the general appearance of horses hoofs.

In Fig. 2 is shown the figure toy in the next stage of its manufacture. A fabric-covered wire 5, such as .a pipe cleaner or several such :pipe cleaners, is wound around the wadding 3, coilfashion, so as to impart to the wadding the general contour of the body of a horse, this contouring step being readily performed for the reason that the'wadding yields to allow the coils of'th'e wire to be drawn to large or small radii appropriate tothe contour of the body. The coils of the wire encircling the wadding lie close together and define the skeleton of the horse, and the wire is wound around the wishbones I and 2 so as to interlock these wishbones with the skeleton. One end 6 of the wire projects outwardly from the skeleton above the wishbone 2 to define the tail .of the horse while the other end of the wire 1 extends upwardly above the wishbone I to define the neck I of the horse. The neck is filled out by a section of waddingusa, which may be an extended portion of the wadding 3 composing the body of the horse, and a fabric-covered wire 8 is coiled around the wadding 3a so as to impart the desired contour to the neck.

The outer end of the wire I is inserted into the large end of a tapered cork 9, which latter constitutes the head of the animal. The cork is suitably trimmed to a shape having the general characteristics of a horses head. That is, a deep notch I0 is cut into the smaller end of the cork to suggest a mouth, pins H are inserted so that their exposed heads form eyes and two short sections of fabric-covered wire Ha are anchored at the upper edge of the cork somewhat above the eyes to define the ears of the animal.

In Fig. 3, the figure toy is shown as finally completed, the various parts of the animal being painted in appropriate colors, such as by oil paints or with a plastic. By inserting a small bit l2 in the mouth of the animal having cord reins l3 and adding a paper or cloth saddle H! to the animal's back, including stirrups 15, a caricature likeness of a rodeo mount is achieved. If desired, a figure of a rider (not shown) may be mounted in the saddle on the horses back.

Because of the stifliy flexible nature of the wadding 3 and 3a and of the encircling wires 5 and 8, the body and neck may be bent to different positions. However, after the finish coating has been applied, as explained above, and has been allowed to dry, the figure becomes more or less rigidly set in its posed position.

As a modification of the figure toy just described, there is shown in Figs. 4 and 5 substantially the same type of figure except that the branches of the wishbones forming the forelegs and hindlegs of the horse are severed approximately midway of their length and secured together by a bendable joint to increase the number of positions in which the animal may be posed. In Fig. 4 is shown a wishbone 20, the two branches of which are each broken into two sections 20a and 20b. Small wires H are tightly inserted into the hollow interior of the bones adjacent their point of severance so that these wires provide a stifily flexible connection between the companion sections. This permits the legs of the figure to be postured in different relation to each other, as indicated in Fig. 5, and thereby gives the effect of lifelike action to the horse. After posing the figure and before applying the oil coating, small blobs of wax 22 may be inserted into the space between the adjacent ends of the leg sections 20a and 20b and smoothed over to as to fill the gap. Otherwise, the figure toy of Fig. 5 corresponds in all essential respects to the construction of the horse shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

It is to be understood that while the invention compressible material, a wire wound coil-fashion around the wadding to impart the contour of an animal body thereto, a head member supported upon one end of said wadding and the wishbones of a fowl interlocked with the coiled wire at opposite ends of the wadding and forming the forelegs and hindlegs of the animal.

3. A figure novelty comprising a wadding of compressible material, awire wound coil-fashion around the wadding to impart the contour of an animal thereto, opposite ends of said wire extending outwardly from the ends of the wadding to define the tail and the neck of the animal, a head member supported upon the free end of the neckdefining wire and the wishbones of a fowl interlocked with the coiled wire at opposite ends of the wadding and forming the forelegs and hindhas been described in connection with the manufacture of toy horses, this is merely by way of example and that it is equally adaptable for the construction of other figure toys. Manifestly various changes in construction and design in the embodiment of the invention described above may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A figure novelty comprising a wadding of compressible material, a wire wound coil-fashion around the wadding to impart thereto the contour of the body of the figure, a head member supported upon one end of said wadding and the wishbone of a fowl interlocked with the wire and forming the legs of said figure.

2. A figure novelty comprising a wadding of legs of the animal.

4. A figure novelty comprising a wadding of compressible material, a wire wound coil-fashion around the wadding to impart the contour of an animal thereto; the ends of said wire extending outwardly from opposite ends of the wadding to define the tail and the neck of the animal, a head member composed of cork supported upon the free end of the neck-defining wire and the wishbones of a fowl interlocked with the coiledwire at opposite ends of the wadding and forming the forelegs and hindlegs of the animal, said coiled-wire being coated with a plastic.

5. A figure novelty comprising a body member, a head member supported on the body member and the wishbone of a fowl embedded in said body member and forming the legs of said figure, said wishbone having its branches each severed intermediate its length to provide two leg sections and a wire inserted between the leg sections bendable to change the angular relationship between said sections.

ULRICH SCHNEIDER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Wood May 28, 1940 

